The Ongoing Debate With Rain

Hi Rain . . .

When a person has descended from Irish and Highlander stock you can expect an argumentative result. From the get-go I've enjoyed your bright and sometimes stubborn prose. It's obvious that you are smarter than I am (durn it) - and also write better.  My only weapon is common sense and a pretty good idea of what is right and what is wrong.

Fly In Ointment Commander

Not long ago you replied to one of my regular epistles about the religion of Islam. I know I tend to speak with a forked tongue sometimes, but I usually keep my written stuff close to what I really believe. There is, however, a leprechaun living in my keyboard that now and then pushes the envelope. When my text is displayed on the screen I don't always realize that I've gone over the top. You know, a bit too far.

I rely on you and other bloggers to pull me back from the abyss. Your recent reply was precisely that, an attempt to get me to back off and smell the roses. It worked. The subject that caused your objection was, I think, my bald statement that "ALL MUSLIMS ARE OUR ENEMY".  You are right and I should tone this statement down. The word ALL has to be erased. Consider it done. My reasoning was not faulty but my emphasis was. There is no question in my mind that radical, fundamentalist Muslims have declared WAR upon Americans.  This enemy is small in numbers,  but nevertheless they are an able, vicious and dangerous enemy. They can not be ignored.

Your recent reply centered on Ground Zero and my attitude toward religious power. In answer to your specific questions:

1. You say that I said Christianity was incapable of being involved in an aggressively political movement. I did not (ever) say that.

2. You say that religion in ultimate power is a problem. I agree.

3. You ask does that mean the religion of Islam should be banned here? I suggest America should take a very close look at this question. Islam is an ideology more than a religion, and it is joined at the hip with the Islamic political movement and Sharia. It is perhaps more of a political-legal ideology than it is a religion at all. This ideology specifically seeks to overthrow and control our government and replace our laws with Sharia. If some other other movement or religious sect were to advocate the violent overthrow of our government we would consider them to be hostile and jail or deport them.  I am no longer sure that is an over reaction. 

4. You say that most Americans fear that Islam is a serious threat and may be able to take over America. I think that is  accurate. To not think so is dangerous to our country.

5. You say it is one thing to build a memorial to a catastrophic event and another to turn it into a holy shrine. I agree.

5. Your analogy of comparing highway deaths to the number of people killed (murdered) at the Twin Towers is not a particularly convincing one. The 3,000 deaths on 9/11 are more related to the World War II attack at Pearl Harbor. It seems to me that just because more people are killed auto accidents each month than are killed in Iraq, doesn't make the War in Iraq more or less important. And a fisherman that goes down when his boat fails off the Oregon coast is just as important as a person killed in the 9/11 tragedy. If the fisherman believed in religion, there is nor reason he people should not erect a Holy Shrine reflecting his faith. But after an attack like 9/11 where thousands of people were killed and they belonged to no specific religion, they should not be given a Holy Shrine but rather a non-sectarian, non-religious, non-partisan shrine where the victims family and friends might gather and mourn in their own private way, and our nation's can recognize the event forever.

6. You say that our tradition of freedom should be extended to an Islamic sponsored commemorative Islamic Center near ground zero. I, as you would expect, disagree. I look at Islam as an enemy and any new Islamic Center or Mosque as an abomination and insult to America. Notice that my statement encompasses ALL Islamic building anywhere in America. These people are a direct and active threat to our government and way of life. They have declared war upon us. Their Islamic Centers are planned and financed by the hostile centers of Islamic expansion. They want Americans to submit to Islam or die, and they still expect us to allow more centers of evil to be built all across America. Until the religion of Islam no longer threatens people, no longer has the public purpose of destroying America, and until Muslims accept the domination of their host country's laws over Sharia . . . Americans should treat Islam as an enemy and give them nothing.

Bump